How Far We've Come

Chapter Thirteen

"Do it one more time, Liz. This is going on my Insta as soon as we finish."

Brandon Beckham watched in delight as his girlfriend casually lifted the front of his car, one hand holding the bumper, the other hand under crucial examination. How cool was this?

Liz looked up from her fingernails. "Are you done?"

"I would be if you smiled."

"Do you know how many pictures I take a day in that sorority house, B?" Liz grinned and spoke through her teeth. "Dozens. Dozens of pictures. Forgive me for not wanting to pose for yet another goddamned post."

Brandon slipped his phone into his back pocket and threw his hands up. "I know, I know. You're right. I just wanted to commemorate how sexy you look with superpowers."

Liz set the car down and picked some lint off the collar of her shirt. "I'm hungry. Let's go get some bagels."

"We just ate."

"Superpowers make a girl hungry. I said bagels."

Brandon glanced down the block. They were in Brooklyn. There was a bagel shop every other foot.

"There's one over there." He held out his arm and Liz's fingers looped around his elbow. "We'll get you a snack and then it's time to hit the tower."

Liz stared down at her hand. Her fingers had stuck to his sleeve. She was finally starting to get the hang of this sticky skin thing. That, and her nails were perfect right now. "Sounds great, babe."

Brandon and Liz walked down the street, blending right in with the rest of the college-age somethings and millennials.

No one was the wiser that Brandon had cracked the science behind Peter's spider bite the night before, half a pizza roll dangling from his mouth. No knew that Liz had been writing her intro to sociology essay as Brandon hooked up her IV.

They only realized the infusion had worked when Liz's fingers began to stick to her laptop keys.

Now, with one super mind and one super being, they were on their way to becoming the heroes the world needed.

The last thing they had to get was one of Tony Stark's suits. Then they could give the Avengers a run for their money.

It was time for young people to have their own heroes. And Brandon and Liz were ready to be those heroes.

#

Peter wouldn't finish the protein shake.

It wasn't surprising. Tony figured it would only be half the bottle or so before Peter refused to go on.

What Tony didn't expect was for Peter to lie about drinking it and then dump it down the sink right in front of him.

"Peter, why did you do that?"

Peter's cheeks flushed as he set the bottle in the sink, arms crossing. "Dad- what are you, uh- what are you talking about? Exactly?"

Tony couldn't believe this. Refusing to drink or eat something was one thing. Dumping it down the pipes was another. "What was the point of that? I know you didn't drink it. I'm sitting right here."

"Dad, I drank all of it. There were, uh, um, some, like- you know? Dregs! There were dregs collecting in the bottom and I hate those so I just poured out the last sip or two because of, uh... dregs?"

Peter had poured out half of the bottle. Half. Not a sip or two.

"Hmm. How about next time you leave the dregs in the bottle so I can work on the formula and make sure we don't have any dregs next time?"